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AlbuquerqueItalianNew MexicoPizzaRating: Excellent

Luigi’s Ristorante & Pizzeria – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno7:40 AM

Luigi’s is the eponymous brainchild of Luigi Napolitano whose very last name translates to citizen of Naples, the city from which his mother Tina emigrated more than four decades ago. Tina is the bread-baking, pasta-making dynamo in the kitchen and is also responsible for many of the restaurant’s homey touches.  Tina painstakingly hand-sewed the delicate lace covering over each lamp (below) as well as the curtains over each booth.  Other homey touches include viney plants hanging from pillars throughout the restaurant and a framed picture of the Mona Lisa hanging above the buffet. Tina, a spry octogenarian, is one of…

MexicanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio RanchoTacos

Las Villas Taqueria – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Upon learning that a new Mexican restaurant named “Las Villas Taqueria” would be launching in Rio Rancho, the bilingual lexicologist in me didn’t immediately ponder the menu.  Instead, my ruminations were of the translation of “Las Villas,” a Spanish term with several meanings depending on context.  I pondered whethr the restaurant was named for  small towns or settlements or for  luxurious country homes, both translations of the term “las villas.”  Then again, “Villas” is a common Spanish surname.  After a superb meal with my dear friend Bill Resnik, I came to the conclusion that “Las Villas” is actually a diminutive…

MediterraneanNew MexicoRating: Very GoodRio Rancho

Al-quds Mediterranean Grill II – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The penultimate day of the 2023 International Balloon Fiesta will be memorable for many reasons.  Foremost may be the 2023 annular eclipse whose path took it directly above the Balloon Fiesta Park, host of the world’s largest ballooning event.  That day will be imprinted on our minds for another reason–our inaugural visit to Al-quds Mediterranean Grill in Rio Rancho.   The second instantiation of perhaps Albuquerque’s most popular Middle Eastern restaurant is located on The Village on Rio Rancho, a timeworn shopping center that flourished in the early 1990s when Intel’s Fab 4 was fully operational. Neither owner Mohammad Abdeljalil…

AlbuquerqueDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: Very Good

Il Vicino – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:54 AM

Undoubtedly the most oft-quoted line on Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is “good fences make good neighbors.” Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize award winning American poet certainly didn’t have Il Vicino (“the neighbor”) in mind when he penned his prose. Fortunately fences are no obstacle to patrons of this popular contemporary Italian trattoria. A well-regarded neighborhood eatery with three Albuquerque locations, Il Vicino is probably best known for its wood-oven pizza and award-winning brewery with popular micro-brewed ales but it offers much more than that. Known in some circles for prized beers, Il Vicino has a private wine label designed…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseJapaneseKoreanNew MexicoRating: ExcellentSushi

East Asian Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Perhaps more than anyone I’ve ever met, my Singaporean friend Ming Lee (God rest his beautiful soul) regarded people by the content of their character, not by physical characteristics.  So, it surprised me to hear him joke “we all look alike.”  It was an unsolicited admission that even he couldn’t always discern the cultural genesis of Asian people he met.  He also joked “at least I can always tell where an Asian restaurant’s food comes from.”  Ming was a bona fide gastronome who introduced me to the cuisine of Singapore and Malaysia.  Like me, he disliked restaurants in which overt…

AlbuquerqueBar & GrillDog FriendlyMexicanNew MexicanNew MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)Tacos

Calavida Cantina – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

At Calavida Cantina, you’re invited to “party like the dead.”  If you haven’t partied like the dead, you’re probably not well acquainted with the Mexican tradition of “El Dia De Los Muertos,” the Day of the Dead.  During this Mexican holiday, the profusion of skeletons of all sizes performing day-to-day activities signifies the return to this world of the dead who remain who they were when they lived, doing what they did.  For example, skeletal figures depicted on the artwork at Calavida Continue would have been party animals when they graced this earthly plane.  Therefore in death, they remain party animals–eating,…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseNew MexicoRating: Excellent

Red Chilli House – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Red “Chilli” House…doesn’t “Chilli” read like a misspelled word that knocked a spelling bee contestant out of the competition?  Or like someone added one too many letter “l’s” to the already misspelled word “chili?”  Actually, that spelling (which some of us purists consider Texan) is by design.   The delightful Chinese restaurant sporting that appellation–which opened its doors in June, 2024–wouldn’t change it.  Among other things, it illustrates just how important Capsicum is in some provinces of China, particularly Sichuan and Hunan. Capsicum, as most New Mexicans know, is the genus to which all chili (chile in New Mexico) peppers…

AlbuquerqueGreekMediterraneanRating: Outstanding

Gyros Mediterranean – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno2:39 AM

It’s not easy being a gastronome about town when you make less than a thousand dollars a month and have a car payment, rent and a social life. Stationed at Kirtland in the early 1980s, my Air Force salary pretty much dictated that most of my meals were at the base’s chow hall (which thankfully was legions better than mystery meat meals at the Peñasco High School cafeteria). The little that was left of my meager monthly take-home pay meant social outings were pretty much of the cheap eats variety. The epicenter for many of my off-site meals seemed to…

AlbuquerqueJapaneseRating: GoodSushi

Ichiban – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno3:43 AM

In an episode of Friends, Joey Tribbiani starred in a commercial released only in Japan for Ichiban men’s lipstick. His friend Chandler’s response upon viewing the commercial: “he really is a chameleon.” In Japanese, the word “ichiban” means “number one” or “the best” and can be used either as a superlative (as in the highest of quality or the very best choice) or to denote precedence or numerical order. The fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, for example, called his eldest son “number one son.” Whether meaning to denote the highest quality or precedence (ranking) among other restaurants, any dining establishment…

AlbuquerqueAmericanDog FriendlyFusionNew MexicoRating: Very Good

Fuego 505 Rotisserie & Bar – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:01 PM

“I have become obsessed with cooking meat over fire. I get prepared for it. I make sure I’m hungry before I cook it. The smell of the smoke and the aroma of the crackling meat ignites some ancient genetic memories. It makes cooking and eating significantly better.” ~Joe Rogan, Podcast Host Those of us with a carnivorous bent can relate to Joe Rogan’s ode to cooking meat over fire.  There’s absolutely nothing as mouth-watering as the heady aroma and melodious sound of meat searing on the grill or sizzling in a pan.  An argument can easily be made that nothing…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentThai

Hot Pink Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:36 PM

Black socks and sandals, mixing plaids and polka dots, middle-aged men wearing trousers up to their nipples, T-shirts that accentuate the “spare tire” look, fat guys wearing culottes… If there’s a fashion faux-pas out there, you can bet some of us XY-chromosome-enabled fashion Luddites have committed it and then some. When it comes to fashion, many of us are as clueless as a pirate wearing two eye patches. There is, however, one fashion statement we won’t make. Among the six to seven shirts hanging (wrinkles and all) in our closets, none will be the color pink. Nor will they be…